Gloria Bates Earns Third SCIAC Defensive Player of the Week This Season for CMS Women's Basketball

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Junior guard Gloria Bates earned the SCIAC Defensive Player of the Week honor for the third time this season, the league office announced today.

Bates had a huge week for the Athenas, who extended their winning streak to 14 games and took over sole possession of first place in the SCIAC with home victories over Pomona-Pitzer on Thursday and Redlands on Saturday. Bates had such a strong two-way week that she was actually nominated for both the SCIAC Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week honors, but ended up taking the defensive one (Offensive Player of the Week went to Grace Peng of Caltech). 

On Thursday, Bates set a new career high with five blocked shots to help CMS to a 78-55 win over Pomona-Pitzer in a battle between two teams who came in tied for first in league play at 8-1. She also had 18 points in the game on 7-11 shooting from the floor, tying her career high that she set last year against Occidental. 

That career high lasted only 48 hours, as she came back on Saturday to score 23 points on 9-14 shooting in a 53-41 win over Redlands, while adding three steals and two blocked shots to her defensive numbers. Her role off the bench on both ends helped CMS dominate Redlands in points in the paint (36-8) and bench points (37-2).

Over the two games, CMS also outrebounded its opponents 95-44 (including 57-16 in the Pomona-Pitzer win) and held a combined 31-2 edge in second chance points, allowing only four offensive rebounds over the two contests. 

The Athenas will be back in action on Saturday when they host La Verne for a 5 p.m. contest at Roberts Pavilion.